LEED for Homes Illinois

In order to assist green building project teams and LEED for Homes project teams, USGBC has produced a LEED for Homes Homeowners Operations and Maitnance (HOM) Manual.

The HOM Manual was developed to support the LEED for Homes prerequisite AE 1: Education of the Homeowner or Tenant, and to provide tips on maintaining a LEED-certified home. Be sure to read the Project Team Instructions for how to properly use and customize the manual.

The manual is available to all project teams and can assist anyone looking for information on how a home works.

Download the Basic Operations Training manual (AE1.1)

Habitat for Humanity Lake County has teamed up with USGBC and Bank of America to build two LEED Platinum homes side-by-side as part of the Greenbuild 2010. The homes will offer a miniature regional green building case study both in consturction cost and occupancy costs down the road.

Both homes will have the same floor plan and appearance but will be built using two different construction methods. The Greenbuild Legacy Home project will feature state of the art ICF and panelized construction, while the second home, targeted for 75% competition by Greenbuild, will be built using conventional stick construction as an opportunity for Greenbuild attendees to view its construction process. Currently both homes are aiming to achieve LEED for Homes Platinum certification. Construction cost data and performance will be tracked and published for both homes once both are complete. USGBC’s commitment to affordable green housing extends beyond Greenbuild, as fully 40% of the homes in the LEED for Homes program are affordable.

The Alliance for Environmental Sustainability will serve as the LEED for Homes Provider on the project. Learn more about this affordable housing project by viewing the full article at Real Estate Rama.

Wood frame home on left, ICF home on right

Solar panels and wind turbines sold Meg Barrett and Doug Smit on the Prairie Ridge Estates development in New Lenox. “I would be an ambassador for this type of technology,” Barrett said. (David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / July 28, 2010)

A newly formed company thinks the beacon that will attract homebuyers to its patch of dirt in New Lenox isn’t a clubhouse or walking paths, the extras that once drew attention to new subdivisions, but 30-foot-tall vertical-axis wind turbines.

Prairie Ridge Estates, as envisioned by local developers Jim and Phil Regan, could just possibly become the nation’s largest net-zero energy subdivision, filled with homes that produce as much energy as they use during a year.

But selling 132 lots of really green housing also could prove a formidable task for Energy Smart Home Builders, and not just because homebuilding has screeched to a halt.

View full Chicago Tribune article

Reproduced from Chicago Tribune, Aug 3, 2010.

A speculative home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that has fallen into disrepair will now be an intersection of historic preservation and green building, as Eifler and Associates embarks on a LEED for Homes rehabilitation in Glencoe, IL.

Rendering upon completion

Read more » »

LEED for Homes project teams that sign up for USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership (BPP) are now eligible to earn an optional point in Innovation and Design (ID) point for Utility Tracking, which will be done via EarthAid.net.

For the residential market, providing performance data for energy and water usage after occupancy is not required as in other Read more » »

Join USGBC for an important, free educational program – bringing you the tools you need to understand the intersection between green building and affordable housing. And then leverage the local incentives supporting sustainable affordable housing. Read more » »

Before the ground completely thaws and the building season kicks off, Chicago’s local LEED for Homes provider, the Alliance for Environmental Sustainability, is launching a series of green building seminars around the Chicagoland area.

The class, titled Demystifying LEED for Homes for Building Professionals, is a comprehensive overview of the LEED for Homes green building rating system. The class will discuss Read more » »

Recently, many people have told me they thought a LEED for Homes certification was going to cost many thousands of dollars – even over $10,000.  This simply isn’t true, at least not when using the Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (AES) as the LEED for Homes Provider.  So let’s bust this myth. Read more » »

A number of building professionals have questions about LEED for Homes. How feasible is it for single-family homes? Why certify through this rating system instead of through other LEED systems?  How difficult is the documentation? What are the soft and hard costs associated with LEED for Homes?

To answer these questions and more, the Alliance for Environmental Sustainability has put together a two and a half hour seminar to help builders, architects, real estate developers, and other professionals to learn about the LEED for Homes rating system. The first seminar offering will be Tuesday, December 1, 2009 in Chicago.  Read more » »

Chicagoland will be bursting at the seams with capacity to build green homes after people attend the LEED for Homes workshop taught by USGBC on Wednesday, November 3 at the Merchandise Mart. Learn from the definitive source – especially if you are considering pursuing the LEEED AP+H designation. Read more » »